In April 2004 Jossey-Bass published the book From High School to College - Improving Opportunites for Success in Postsecondary Education. Michael W. Kirst and Andrea Venezia, editors. The book is based on research from the Bridge Project. Copies of the book can be ordered from the publisher. Review (pdf) (website)

The press symposium included panelists Dr. Carol Geary Schneider, President
of the Association of American Colleges and Universities and Dr. Gerald
Tirozzi, president of the National Association of Secondary School Principals.

A policy toolkit was also released
March 4. The toolkit is a template designed for state-, regional- and
institutional-level researchers and policymakers to analyze K-16 policies
and stakeholder understandings. One of the major goals of the Bridge
Project is to help states and regions develop more aligned and equitable
policy structures that help all students prepare for, and succeed in,
some form of postsecondary education. We hope this toolkit will help
states and regions with their reform efforts.

For draft copies of our technical reports and a draft report of our
exploratory community college research (research in California, Maryland
and Oregon) please see the publications
page.

For additional information about alignment of assessments, please see
excerpted tables from the RAND report,
"Alignment Among Secondary and Post-Secondary Assessments in Five
Case Study States." The tables are followed by more detail about
the methodology and coding categories.

About the Bridge ProjectThe Bridge Project: Strengthening K-16 Transition
Policies builds on the view that reforms affecting K-12 and higher
education must occur across systems in order to achieve the desired
outcomes. Reforms developed in isolation from each other can lead to
mismatched policy objectives and send confusing messages to education
stakeholders. The overarching purpose of the project is to improve
opportunities for all students to enter and succeed in higher education
by strengthening
the alignment between higher education admissions-related requirements
and K-12 curriculum frameworks, standards, and assessments. Our research
will help educational institutions and federal, state, and local agencies
accomplish this goal by providing a descriptive analysis of the policies
as well as disjunctures that exist in the current policy environment,
and a detailed analysis of ways to improve the current system. Toward
this end, Bridge Project staff will formulate
both short- and long-term policy and practice recommendations.

To ensure that the project is both comprehensive
and coordinatedto provide the most accurate and complete picture
of the dynamics between K-12 and higher education in terms of the undergraduate
admissions processour research will:

Focus on three understudied but essential components
of the K-16 systemadmissions policies, freshman placement or
advising policies in community colleges and four-year public universities,
and curriculum content and assessment standards in K-12 systems.

Examine regions in six states: California, Georgia,
Illinois, Maryland, Oregon, and Texas to understand the dynamics within
each state and to offer a comparative framework among states.

Focus on ways to improve the delivery of information
and policy signals for all students.

Include analyses of emerging reforms, such as
the Proficiency-Based Admission Standards System (PASS) in Oregon,
the development of P-16 councils in Georgia and Maryland, and policy
reactions to changes in affirmative action policies in California
and Texas.

Include stakeholders' perspectives from all
aspects of the K-16 system: students; parents; and educators and researchers
at state agencies, higher education institutions, school districts,
and high schools.

Formulate policy recommendations and a self-study
protocol that other researchers, educators, and policymakers can use
to assess such K-16 linkages in their own state

While educators and policymakers share the common
goal of improving student performance, they often act in isolation;
thus, efforts are sometimes conflicting or duplicated, and often certain
needs are never addressed. This is not the fault of a particular set
of people or institutions. Rather, the current organization of secondary
schools and universities is such that communication between levels is
often difficult, if not impossible. Reform initiatives at different
levels within the entire K-16 education system must be better integrated
or the whole mission of increasing opportunities for all students for
higher education could veer dangerously off course.

The lack of compatibility between K-12 and higher
education policies and practices causes many problems. For example,
in 1995, nearly all U.S. public two-year institutions and 81 percent
of public four-year institutions offered remedial courses; in the fall
of 1995, 29 percent of the nation's first-time college students enrolled
in at least one remedial reading, writing, or mathematics course. Community
Colleges across the country are increasing their developmental education
course offerings. These statistics point to a possible disjuncture between
K-12 and higher education. If K-12 educators, students, and parents
had a better understanding of what students should know and be able
to do to enter college, remediation rates might be lower. For instance,
in the southeastern U.S., there are nearly 125 combinations of 75 different
placement tests, oftentimes devised by university departments without
enough regard to secondary school standards. Entering first-year students
know little about the content of these exams; this could lead to poor
scores on placement exams and the need for remediation. This lack of
compatibility creates problems for students, such as increased costs
and length of stay in undergraduate programs. It increases costs and
administrative burdens for institutions of higher education as well.
This situation is particularly troubling for traditionally underrepresented
and economically disadvantaged students because they often do not have
family members who are familiar with higher education, and often lack
the resources needed to hire private counselors and tutors to help them
successfully navigate the K-16 transition .

Thus, the current array of policies sends vague
and confusing signals to students about what is required to succeed
at colleges and universities. Moreover, a lack of compatibility between
assessment mechanisms could be a major problem for students who attend
high schools that stress performance assessments, portfolios, and problem
solving. When those students enter college, they are often faced with
more traditional forms of teaching and learning such as standardized
multiple choice tests and lectures.

The research conducted for the project will focus
on policies, perceptions, and practices relating to the transition of
students from secondary to higher education. The project is composed
of three phases, which incorporate a series of research methodologies,
including interviews, focus groups, document review, and surveys:

Phase I. In an effort to understand current
higher education preparation practices in secondary schools and disjunctures
between college admissions-related policies and K-12 reforms, this
phase provides a comparative analysis of K-16 policies and practices
in regions within six states:
California, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Oregon, and Texas. Phase
I seeks to answer the following main research questions: What are
the formal and informal state and higher education institutional K-16
policies and practices in each of the six states? How compatible are
the K-16 standards and assessments in terms of their content, objectives,
and specifications? In seeking to answer these questions, Phase I
research will complete an analysis of the signals and incentives sent
by existing K-16 policies as well as an analytical matching of state
and institutional content, performance, and assessment standards.
This phase includes research with community colleges, focusing on
issues related to matriculation, placement, articulation, transfer,
K-16 policy development and implementation, and K-16 data collection
and usage.

Phase II. This phase seeks to understand
how higher education admissions standards and placement policies are
communicated to, and interpreted by, secondary school-level educators,
parents, and students in each of the six states. It also provides
analyses of differences in the K-16 policy-related communication processes
utilized by, and the consequent understandings of, different student
groups, and differences between student groups in terms of their aspirations
and college knowledge.

Phase III. To help reconceptualize existing
policies and propose new policies, the project will produce 1) a set
of short- and long-term policy recommendations and 2) an analysis
of the strengths and weaknesses of the proposed policy recommendations.

Another main component of the Bridge Project's
research is an analysis of the alignment among assessment instruments
at the secondary and postsecondary levels, currently being conducted
by researchers at the RAND Corporation.

In order to improve current K-16 policies and practices,
the project's research and outreach agenda will:

Expand knowledge and research about the linkages
between K-12 and higher education, focusing on undergraduate admissions-related
policies and practices.

Evaluate and analyze recent large-scale changes
in university admissions and placement policies within a comparative
framework.

Explore the potential impact of new concepts
such as performance assessment in undergraduate admissions.

Conduct a six-state comparison of K-16 standards
currently used for secondary and university curriculum standards and
assessments to uncover inconsistencies that generate confusing signals
for students.

Create a forum for researchers and practitioners
to share ideas, discuss policy options, and identify priorities for
further research.

Convene and lead local, state, and national
discussions to rethink current policies and practices and formulate
recommendations for specific national, state, local, and institutional
contexts.

Convene discussions with local educators on
issues of early outreach, tracking, and other equity-based policies
geared to recruit and prepare traditionally underrepresented and economically
disadvantaged students.

Provide a protocol or template for states to
replicate our analysis and to prepare a self-assessment of their own
K-16 policy environment.

Our outreach and dissemination agenda is designed
to inform a variety of audiences, including K-16 researchers and policymakers;
K-12 and postsecondary administrators, counselors, and teachers; and
parents and students. This agenda will be accomplished through coordinated
outreach activities and a series of publications. In addition to collaboration
with local, state, and national agencies, a Research Forum will bring
education researchers together on a regular basis. A continuously updated
Internet website will make our research findings and publications widely
available and accessible, and will allow for greater communication and
feedback with our target audiences.